French company wants to unload its stake to Chinese partner, which is reluctant to become the natural-gas project’s operator

Total SA is having difficulty unloading its stake in a $5 billion natural-gas project in Iran to a Chinese partner, after stopping work on the project earlier this year due to U.S. sanctions.

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh confirmed Monday that the French oil giant had left the project in the South Pars natural-gas field. Total had flagged in May that it planned to do so, ahead of a Nov. 4 deadline to divest itself from its stake in the project to comply with sanctions.

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